Vacuum cleaner with removable filter bag



y 1965 c. A. LINDBERG ETAL 3,184,778

VACUUM CLEANER WITH REMOVABLE FILTER BAG 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 4, 1963 INVENTOR CARL A luwazaa gawnnn A fiwaxn 50m flnnfrus sfdrxe A? Tarn e ys 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 25, 1965 c. A. LINDB ERG ETAL VACUUM CLEANER WITH REMOVABLE FILTER BAG Filed Jan. 4, 1963 w m6 w e MR R H r W 0 a N w 1 d A m m r mm .m C Y fi v 0 xi /k1 444/1) AF, xxx: .flflavwflkdvn a J m m a p. 0 Z 6 3 w z 4 I 0 L V v I w I United States Patent 3,184,778 VACUUM CLEANER WITH REMOVABLE FILTER BAG Carl A. Lindberg, Adrian, Mich, and Howard A. Anderson, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignors to Bissell Inc., Grand Rapids, Micln, a corporation of Michigan Filed Jan. 4, 1963, Ser. No. 249,448 6 Claims. (Cl. 15-344) This invention relates to a vacuum cleaner with replaceable filter bag.

The invention provides a vertical type vacuum cleaner with a very simple and inexpensive filter bag which can be readily assembled without complicated sequential steps, and which can be readily removed for replacement or emptying.

In operation the invention provides a filter bag mounting in which the dirt collected in the bag during previous cleaning operations is separated from the air stream and is not riled up by incoming dirt in a subsequent cleaning operation.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings which show a vacuum cleaner embodying the best mode presently contemplated by the applicants for carrying out the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective elevational view of a vertical type vacuum cleaner having the invention incorporated therein:

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical axial section through the tank and adjacent parts with the remaining parts broken away;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the tank taken on line 33 of FIG. 2 and with a part broken away and sectioned;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the parts shown in FIG. 2 including the bag, prior to assembly;

FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 2 showing the assembled tank and power head;

FIG. 6 is a transverse section taken on line 66 of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a detail enlarged view showing the seal for closing the bag at the bottom of the tank.

The vacuum cleaner illustrated is of the vertical type having the customary nozzle 1, tank 2, motor-fan mechanism 3 and handle 4.

The nozzle 1 is adapted to support the vacuum cleaner on a rug and to be translated over the rug for picking up dirt and debris from the latter. A suction tube 5 is universally connected to the nozzle 1 at a suitable angle for a standing operator to manipulate the cleaner with handle 4.

The tank 2 is generally cylindrical with the side walls preferably slightly flared from bottom to top. The lower end of tank 2 is closed with the exception of a central opening 6 in the bottom of the tank and which is aligned with suction tube 5. The upper end of the tank is open for receiving the suction means comprising generally the motor-fan mechanism 3.

The motor-fan mechanism 3 has a housing 7 which fits upon the upper end of the tank 2 and is removably secured thereto by a hook 8 on one side and a manually actuated spring clip 9 on the other side. The housing 7 contains an electric motor, not shown, in its upper end which drives a suction fan 10 in its lower end and which rotates on an axis generally coincident with the longitudinal axis or center line of tank 1.

The handle 4 is secured to the upper end of housing 7 and extends axially upward therefrom.

The tank 2 houses the filter bag assembly and may preferably be molded of a light weight plastic material. The tank illustrated has circumferentially spaced radial ribs 11 internally thereof extending longitudinally of the walls and integral therewith. The lower ends of ribs 11 merge with radial fins 12 extending across the bottom of the tank between the sleeve 13 defining opening 6 and the outer tank wall. The upper end of sleeve 13 preferably terminates in a transverse plane coincident with the upper edges of fins 12 to support a disk 14 which provides a false bottom for the tank 2 and supports the bag seal, to be described hereinafter.

A tubular extension 15 is secured in sleeve 13 and in suction tube 5 to provide a continuous passsage for suction from nozzle 1 to a discharge mouth 16 at the upper end of the tank 2 and prevent dirt collected in the bag as hereinafter described from returning to the nozzle 1.

The bag assembly in tank 2 comprises, in general, an inverted U-shaped metal strip 17, a bag support ring 18 secured to the lower end of the strip, and a filter bag 19.

The U-shaped strip 17 has its arms extending downwardly generally parallel to the walls of the tank 2, and a cross web 20 at the upper end which may be formed angularly downward with a central cup portion 21 to provide a resilient yielding under vertical pressure upon the angular portions at either side of the cup 21. The cup 21 also serves to hold the upper closed end of bag 19 spaced downwardly from the suction mouth leading to fan 10.

The lower ends of the side arms of strip 17 are interlocked in corresponding slots in the bag support ring 18 which has a diameter loosely fitting within the ribs 11 when inserted to rest upon the seal 22 supported on disk 14. The seal 22 is of resilient material such as a polyurethane foam in the form of a washer applied on the support disk 14 to serve as a seal for the bag. For the purpose of locating the washer seal 22, the support disk 14 may have a circular ridge 23 formed in its upper face of a diameter just inside the inner diameter of the washer.

The filter bag 19 is inserted inside strip frame 17 with the open mouth of the bag in the plane of bag support ring 18, and the edges of the bag bent outwardly around the ring 18 and upwardly on the outside. When the assembly of frame 17, ring 18 and bag 19 is inserted in tank 2 with the mouth of the bag downward, it is dropped into the tank until the bag support ring 18 confines the fold of the bag against the seal washer 22. The foam seal washer 22 is resilient and provides a cushion seal for the bag between ring 18 and disk 14. A relatively inexpensive filter bag of suitable paper or cloth may be used for this purpose.

When the bag assembly is thus positioned in inverted relation over the mouth 16 of tube extension 15 the bag is adapted to receive dirt from suction nozzle 1 and to transmit air free of dirt to the fan 10. For this purpose the ribs 11 keep the sides of the bag 19 away from the tank wall in areas to provide for suction on the bag by fan 10 for substantially the full length of the bag. The web 20 of strip 17 provides a free space at the upper end of the bag for air suction upon the bag. As the air passes through the semi-porous bag 19 the dirt remains inside and drops down to the bottom upon disk 14.

In case one cleaning operation only partially fills the bag, the dirt collected from it remains in the bottom of the tank, and upon the next cleaning operation another layer of dirt is added thereto without riling up the previously collected dirt.

When the bag is substantially full to the mouth 16, the clip 9 is loosened and housing 7 removed from the tank, whereupon the tank 2 is tipped upside down and the bag assembly dropped out in a position in which the dirt is removed with the bag 19.

The sealing washer 22 is preferably fit tightly within the tank wall so that it remains in the tank and retains 3 disk 14 in place when the bag 19 drops out. The filter bag may then either be thrown away with the dirt and a new bag assembled in the unit, or the bag may be cleaned and re-used.

In order to compensate for manufacturing tolerances in dimension of parts and to provide an adequate seal at the bottom mouth of the bag during operation the strip 1'7 is pressed downwardly by a bafile plate 24 constituting a partition between the tank 2 and the housing 7 of the motor-fan unit 3. The baflle plate 24 is formed of sheet metal and has a central opening 25 therethrough providing a suction mouth for passage of air from tank 2 to the center of the centrifugal suction fan 10. The opening 25 may have a screen 26 secured across the same by suitable bent ears or lugs 27 on plate 24.

The plate 24 is cup-shaped with a circumferential flange construction fitting into the lower end of housing 7 and which provides a shoulder 28 adapted to engage the two angular portions of web of frame strip 17 when the housing 7 is secured to tank 2. This engagement provides a resilient yielding of web 20 and a consequent spring bias of strip frame 17 to clamp the bag 19 between ring 21 and washer 22 and compress the latter. Various means may be employed to provide the resilient seal referred to.

Various modes of carrying out the invention are contemplated as being Within the scope of the following claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as the invention.

We claim:

1. A vacuum cleaner with removable filter bag, comprising a substantially vertical tank of generally cylindrical construction having an open top and a closed bottom, suction means removably connected to the open top of said tank, a suction nozzle, a suction tube connected to said nozzle and extending upwardly through said tank bottom to provide an open suction month near the top of the bank, an inverted filter bag of substantially uniform cross-sectional area throughout its length and disposed within said tank and extending downwardly over said suction tube, a resilient sealing ring of a diameter corresponding generally to thediameter of the bag and disposed at the bottom of the tank, and means pressing and sealing the mouth of said bag at its periphery against said ring, said bag being removable from said tank upon removal of said suction means from the top of the tank.

2. The construction of claim 1 in which said bag sealing means comprises a frame receiving said bag topro vide a bag assembly for insertion in and removal from said tank, said frame having a ring at its lower end .over

a a which the free edge of the bag may be folded and constituting means for clamping and sealing the bag at the bottom of the tank.

3. The construction of claim 2 in which said frame extends upwardly to be engaged by said suction means to apply sealing pressure to the folded portion of said bag at the bottom of the said tank.

4. A vacuum cleaner'with removable filter bag, comprising a rigid tank of generally cylindrical construction having an open top, suction means removably connected to the top of said tank and closing the same, a suction nozzle connected to said tank through the bottom thereof, an inverted filter bag within said'tank and freely removable therefrom upon removal of said suction means, frame means carrying said bag and having a peripheral bag supporting ring over which the mouth of said bag is folded at the bottom of the tank and, a resilient sealing washer confined betweenthe folded mouth of said bag and the bottom of said tank to seal the bag against said tank, said frame means extending to the top of said tank to be engaged by said suction means to apply sealing pressure through said bag support ring to said re silient sealing washer.

5. The construction of claim 4 in which the upper end of said frame means is additionally resilient to accommodate dimensional tolerances in construction of the parts.

6. The construction of claim 4 in whicha suction tube connects said suction nozzle to said tank and extends upwardly therein to provide an open suction mouth near the upper closed end of the filterbag.

References Cited by the Examiner,

UNITED STATES PATENTS WALTER A. SCHEEL, Primary Examiner, 

1. A VACUUM CLEANER WITH REMOVABLE FILTER BAG, COMPRISING A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL TANK OF GENERALLY CYLINDRICAL CONSTRUCTION HAVING AN OPEN TOP AND A CLOSED BOTTOM, SUCTION MEANS REMOVABLY CONNECTED TO THE OPEN TOP OF SAID TANK, A SUCTION NOZZLE, A SUCTION TUBE CONNECTED TO SAID NOZZLE AND EXTENDING UPWARDLY THROUGH SAID TANK BOTTOM TO PROVIDE AN OPEN SUCTION MOUTH NEAR THE TOP OF THE BANK, AN INVERTED FILTER BAG OF SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA THROUGHOUT ITS LENGTH AND DISPOSED WITHIN SAID TANK AND EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY OVER SAID SUCTION TUBE, A RESILIENT SEALING RING OF A DIAMETER 